Eleven reasons for leadership failure
Taking on a leadership position within a company may feel like a significant career move, but it's usually just the beginning. Arguably, the most important part is building and mentoring a highly effective team. And that's where many leaders fail.
Many employees no longer have an emotional attachment to their companies. In other words, they have quit internally. The cause of this is primarily bad managers. The failure of managers costs the economy millions every year and thus reduces the competitiveness of companies.
Leadership failure is not a question of IQ
What might cause managers to fail in their roles, and what can they do to improve their employees' opinions of their supervisors? A study by V. Jon Bentz - vice president in human resources at Sears during the 1970s - found that leadership failure had little to do with a person's IQ or personal attractiveness. Rather, it could be traced to the interpersonal skills of the leaders in question. And since personality is at the heart of interpersonal competence, personality procedures - such as those used by Hogan AssessmentsThe results of the study, which were developed by the Institute for Leadership and Development, can be used to identify eleven personality dimensions that cause managers to fail time and again.
The Hogan Development Survey
Hogan Assessments says it is a leading provider of research-based consulting and assessment solutions, such as the Hogan Development Survey (HDS), the Hogan risks describes. Developed in 1997 by psychologists Robert and Joyce Hogan, the HDS is believed to be the only personality assessment to date that identifies critical traits that can result in professional failure. It assists managers by providing them with insights into counterproductive tendencies - or "risk factors" - that inevitably lead to their failure. These factors can be amplified, especially during times of heightened stress, and can lead to poor relationships with employees and other key stakeholders.
Eleven possible pitfalls
For all-around successful leadership of a team, leaders must be aware of the following eleven personality dimensions or "pitfalls."
- Jump - People who have high expressions on the Jumpy dimension show a lot of energy and enthusiasm for new projects. However, they quickly lose interest if projects do not go according to their ideas. Volatile personalities are very emotional and tend to express their frustrations about people and projects in the form of public outbursts. This creates an uncomfortable work atmosphere where employees have to be constantly on guard for fear of upsetting or disappointing their supervisor.
- Skeptical - Highly skeptical leaders, behave suspiciously of others and believe that others will stab them in the back as soon as they let their guard down. While the leader with this approach may act in accordance with the sometimes ugly underbelly of organizational politics, this person is ultimately unable to gain the trust of his or her counterpart. This inevitably leads to a completely dysfunctional work environment where decisions are made in secret meetings and without open discourse.
- Careful - Cautious managers are constantly afraid of making a mistake. They are convinced that you can never be completely sure and always work with the worst-case scenario in mind. As a result, they are afraid to break new ground or make decisions regarding concrete consequences. Their subordinates try to steer around them when they really want to achieve something.
- Distant - Detached managers believe that first-class work can only be done in complete solitude and thus with absolute concentration. They keep personal interactions to a minimum, and they keep themselves distant once things get stressful. Detached leaders are also less sympathetic to other people's problems, which leads their employees to view them as cold, unyielding and unhelpful.
- Passive resistance - Leaders with high proficiencies in the Passive Resistance dimension show themselves to be polite and socially competent when leading a team, which is why they are often appreciated and respected in their company. However, after working closely with these individuals for some time, employees look behind this facade and notice many fatal weaknesses. When faced with real challenges, these leaders are seen as less productive and look for ways out to avoid and redirect responsibilities.
- Pretentious - Bumptious leaders are initially inspiring, bold and confident. While employees can learn a lot from these individuals about how to get to the top of the career ladder as quickly as possible, these leaders can quickly become real challenges in the workplace. They refuse to admit or take responsibility for their mistakes and failures - for fear of losing face - and so the blame will always lie with employees. But at the same time, these individuals are celebrated for their great successes and are incapable of recognizing and rewarding the hard work of their team.
- Daredevil - Daredevils love thrills and excitement and like to test their limits. Within this scale, leaders are seen as willing to take risks and spring into action, especially in times of stress. In a leadership position, this is definitely necessary, but being too strong within this scale can lead to challenges for employees. In relation to their employees, these leaders lack the consideration that ultimately creates the foundation for their success and is of greatest concern when taking on large, ambitious projects.
- Colorful iridescent - Colorful leaders like to be the center of attention and also thrive in stressful situations, but in different ways. While daredevil executives live for the rush of high-risk projects, variegated executives enjoy the fame and attention of such projects, but this can quickly have a detrimental effect on them. Employees often view these leaders as chaotic and unpredictable, and must always contend with poor organization and indecision.
- Imaginative - Imaginative people are very creative and love to brainstorm different ideas. They consider even simple problems to be extremely complex and demand highly innovative solutions. As managers, they are quickly bored by daily tasks and activities and are easily distracted by their own thoughts. As a result, their employees view them as unfocused and awkward in their actions and decisions.
- Pedantic - Pedantic personalities are perfectionists and have a hard time delegating work efficiently among their employees. As a result, they tend to do most of the work themselves - taking on more than they can handle - which in turn affects quality and turnaround. Working with such managers is particularly challenging because they slow down productivity and control their employees down to the smallest detail.
- Eager to serve - This type of leader lacks initiative and resourcefulness. Unlike pedantic leaders, these individuals rely too much on their team members and hope that they will lead the project to completion without taking responsibility or making risky decisions themselves.
As job dissatisfaction increases, the relationship between employees and employers becomes more important. To successfully lead a team and produce good results, leaders from all organizations must build meaningful bonds with their employees. Developing and maintaining awareness of these eleven pitfalls can help top management and team leaders foster closer working relationships with their employees. Only in this way will a manager be able to successfully support his or her team and achieve compelling results.
